🧵This is an ode to MAGA Americans, on behalf of Leaving MAGA:
Dear MAGA Americans,
I was a devoted member of MAGA nation for seven years; it made me feel I was part of something important: a movement that was trying to save American democracy.
But starting in 2021, I realized I had been mistaken. It took me a full year to finally break away. During that time, I came to understand that MAGA is sustained by a series of myths that are intended to create perpetual feelings of desperation and panic.
Succumbing to these predatory myths does not mean you are unintelligent, weak, or lack good character and morals. I have a Bachelor’s degree; have been a working professional my entire life; am a family man; and consider myself a relatively honest and intelligent person. I think the same about you.
I understand the reasons you have for supporting MAGA. And I know many of us traveled different paths to get there. I gravitated to Donald Trump because I have always been suspicious of our two-party system, and I saw him as the right man at the right time.
I have a sense that some of you have quietly left MAGA already, or are increasingly regretful, confused and scared. All of this can be doubly upsetting, since some of your sincerely-held beliefs may have alienated you from friends and family. That certainly happened to me.
It’s perfectly OK to feel this way; leaving MAGA was a tumultuous roller coaster of a process for me. It may be one of the most difficult endeavors you embark upon. In the end, it brought me an inner peace, and a newfound clarity about what is happening in our beloved country.
I founded this organization, Leaving MAGA, because I wanted to create a safe, non-judgmental community for those who leave MAGA, as well as for those who are having doubts about, or remorse over, their devotion to Trump and MAGA.
Our Leaving MAGA community will celebrate how acknowledging mistakes empowers you and America.
It’s difficult for a democracy to function well when millions are estranged from those closest to them.
You do not deserve to have your anxieties about change exploited. You deserve to know the truth. And with Leaving MAGA, you don’t have to feel you would be alone if you leave the movement.
Leaving MAGA is possible. Recognizing that we were wrong, and acting on that knowledge, makes us all more invested in democracy and in the continued work of perfecting our union.
Sincerely, and humbly yours,
Rich
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1. Democrats, as a whole (as are Republicans), are afraid to have candid conversations with voters, and fear them. Yes, it’s a fine balance, and I don’t proclaim to think I’m an expert on this.
There is a way, however, to acknowledge economic worries (which most Americans will endure for the duration of their lives), AND educate on how those anxieties are a direct result of capitalism, AND still be pro-capitalism (which I am).
This opens the lane for where the Democrats should be ROUTING the GOP on, but don’t: that the government has a role to regulate markets when it benefits the middle and lower classes, small business, etc. Laws that deter greed are flawed (like any law), but perfectly constitutional. "How will we pay for it" is a question Democrats have feared for a very long time. If the uber-rich of America could have made their fortunes in other countries, they'd be there, and not here (and, no, I'm not saying they should self-deport); this, to me, is as good an argument, as any, for specific, reasonable corporate, and individual, tax increases.
🧵 I respect Tom’s intellect, and digitally subscribe to The Atlantic. I don’t want to engage in a debate, but to offer a perspective as an ex-MAGA volunteer, activist and pundit (bylines in Fox; The Federalist; and WND, which originated the Obama birther conspiracy; amongst others).
I was a MAGA fanatic, who did have doubts. It took me a year to leave MAGA, for a variety of reasons: MAGA is a community, and I had a second family; and, the realization that I’d not only been wrong about most of what I was certain of, but that I’d allowed myself to be influenced into adhering to those beliefs. To paraphrase Hemingway: my epiphany occurred gradually, and then suddenly, all at once. The Leaving MAGA Road to Damascus was quite long for me.
Not all Trump voters are like how I was; and, I see no evidence that there are more MAGA Americans than in 2020 or 22; if there were, it stands to reason that most MAGA candidates nationwide would have won their races. But they didn’t.
Please share our story with any undecided voter you may know.
I Was MAGA. Why Am I Voting Solely for Democratic Candidates?
For seven years, I was an unapologetic member of MAGA nation. If someone had told me then that I would be addressing the 2024 Democratic National Convention to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, I would have considered it a personal affront.
Yet there I was, appearing in a 1-minute video in August, acknowledging the grave mistake I had made supporting former President Donald Trump.
At this critical juncture of American history, I believe the story of my odyssey into, and out of, MAGA can help others who may be having doubts or remorse about staying in the movement and community.
When Trump burst on the political scene in 2015, I was a political independent, fully estranged from the two major political parties. To my mind, the Democrats and Republicans were indistinguishable from each other.
When I realized that both parties considered Trump a threat, I was all in. He seemed to be exactly whom I’d been waiting for: a disruptor who was willing and able to obliterate the established political order. His economic and foreign policy isolationism appealed to me, and I liked that he didn’t care what anyone thought of him.
🧵Given former President Trump's firing squad comments about Liz Cheney, I feel compelled to share; and, to make another appeal to undecideds.
As I predicted many months ago, we are seeing accelerated levels of panic and desperation on the party of the GOP, Trump and their surrogates---both in, and outside of, politics.
Why? Because Trump and the GOP do not expect to win Tues., and know that a likely historic repudiation is merely hours away. Perhaps they were more confident when President Biden was the nominee; but once VP Harris replaced him, the GOP and Trump knew it would take a true Hail Mary to win.
For all the American fascination with power, we seem to rarely ask of candidates and elected officials: why does he/she want power? From 2015—22, I was a true believer MAGA American, activist, volunteer and pundit because I convinced myself that Trump sought power for good; for the right reasons, of making America a better country. I was 39 in 2016; “Make America Great Again” was not nostalgia for me—it was progressive; forward-facing.
🧵1. The process of leaving MAGA was what I refer to as my Year of Heaven and Hell, commencing in Summer 2021, with Summer 2022 when I finally, and fully, left MAGA. I did not support the Jan. 6 riot, and in the six months following it, I always acknowledged my opposition to it.
2. But I also publicly said that those who continued to talk about it hyperbolized the adverse effects and consequences of the day. I had thought that groups such as QAnon, the Proud Boys, et al. were fringe hobbyists.
3. When my curiosity about the groups, and forces, who initiated the riot (with, at minimum, some inspiration, and, most likely, aid and/or comfort) led me to better understand them, I realized that I was wrong.